Chapter 124: An Alternative Heir

Chapter 124: Chapter 124: An Alternative Heir

The meeting finally began to resemble actual work when someone made the mistake of trying to simplify it.

For nearly forty minutes, the lawyers had moved through the preliminary agreement clause by clause, pausing whenever Palatine’s constitutional team encountered language that might accidentally suggest Sahan authority over Fitzgeralt, or whenever Saha’s counsel found something that could later be interpreted as restricting Sebastian’s position beside Nero.

It was tedious.

That meant it was productive.

Sebastian had almost forgotten about his neck entirely.

Nero stayed close beside him, one hand occasionally brushing Sebastian’s beneath the table, while keeping the rest of himself remarkably civilized; even Dax had stopped openly enjoying the terror he inspired in the auxiliary staff long enough to read the latest draft.

Then one of the younger Palatine aides cleared his throat.

Sebastian looked up.

The man had spent most of the afternoon positioned behind the senior constitutional adviser, taking notes and retrieving supporting documents whenever Sirius requested them. He appeared competent enough, perhaps in his early thirties, dressed in the charcoal uniform used by the imperial administrative offices.

He also looked nervous.

That should have warned everyone.

"Your Majesties, Your Graces," he began carefully, "there may be a simpler succession solution that avoids requiring such extensive protections."

Trevor lifted his eyes from the document.

Sirius gestured for him to continue.

The aide swallowed.

"If the principal concern is that both current Fitzgeralt heirs are attached to foreign ruling houses, could Grand Duke Trevor and Duke D’Argente simply designate another heir?"

Silence.

Sebastian felt Nero’s fingers stop moving beside his.

The aide apparently mistook the absence of immediate violence for encouragement.

"Perhaps through adoption," he continued, "or, considering their secondary genders, another biological child who could be raised specifically for Fitzgeralt’s succession—"

Lucas put down his pen.

Sebastian closed his eyes.

Across the table, Trevor leaned back, but did not intervene.

Dax’s expression brightened for approximately half a second before Chris touched his arm.

Even Nero, who usually considered silence an inefficient use of time, said absolutely nothing.

Lucas turned toward the aide. His face was calm.

"I’m sorry," he said. "Could you repeat the second option?"

The aide paled slightly.

"I only meant that another direct heir might remove the political complication."

"You suggested I have another child."

"I suggested—"

"At fifty-three."

The room became extraordinarily quiet.

The aide opened his mouth.

Lucas lifted one hand.

"No, please. I would like to understand the proposal completely."

Sebastian glanced toward Trevor.

Trevor had lowered his gaze to hide something dangerously close to amusement.

Lucas continued.

"I already have two adult sons."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Both alive."

"Yes."

"Both competent."

"Of course."

"Neither has renounced his inheritance."

"No."

Lucas nodded slowly, as though assembling the information for someone who required significant assistance.

"And your solution to Parliament disliking their respective mates is for me to become pregnant again."

The aide looked as though he wanted the marble floor to open beneath him.

"I didn’t mean personally, Your Grace. Adoption was also—"

"Oh, excellent. Then instead of telling my eldest son that his birthright has become politically inconvenient because he fell in love with the wrong Crown Prince, we find another child and inform them that their purpose in entering our family is to replace him."

Sebastian’s mouth twitched.

Nero looked at him once.

Sebastian shook his head minutely.

Do not.

Nero, astonishingly, obeyed.

Lucas was nowhere near finished.

"And Dean?"

The aide hesitated.

Lucas’s green eyes sharpened.

"My younger son is married to the Crown Prince of Alamina. Do we remove him from the family tree as well, or only Sebastian, because Nero happens to rule the kingdom Parliament has decided to become frightened of this month?"

"That was not my intention."

"Intentions are doing very little work for your argument."

Trevor finally reached for his glass of water. He still did not rescue the man. Neither did Sirius.

Sebastian suspected his uncle wanted to hear the rest.

Lucas folded his hands on the table.

"Tell me something. How old are you?"

"Thirty-two."

"Excellent. When you are fifty-three, perhaps you may volunteer to carry, deliver, and raise an additional child solely because several politicians find your two perfectly functional adult sons inconvenient."

The aide flushed bright red.

Lucas continued before anyone could mistake the pause for mercy.

"And if you are unable to bear children, I suggest you imagine telling your mate that they should do it instead. Preferably after you have already raised two children into adulthood and begun enjoying the revolutionary concept of not starting again from infancy."

Chris covered his mouth.

Dax looked down at the table.

Sebastian noticed his father-in-law’s shoulders move once.

Lucas saw it too.

"Dax."

Dax immediately stopped.

"No."

One word.

The King of Saha went silent.

Sebastian looked at Nero.

Nero had become extremely interested in the draft.

Apparently, even enigmas possessed survival instincts when Lucas was sufficiently angry.

The aide tried one final time.

"My concern was only that this marriage creates a new connection between Saha and Fitzgeralt—"

"No."

Lucas’s tone changed.

The anger remained, but the ridicule disappeared from it.

"This is the part everyone keeps getting wrong."

He leaned back, looking beyond the aide now to the lawyers gathered around the room.

"Saha and Fitzgeralt are not becoming close because Sebastian is marrying Nero."

Dax raised his eyes.

Lucas gestured toward him and Trevor.

"They have been close for decades."

Trevor’s expression settled.

Dax’s amusement disappeared as well.

Lucas continued.

"Trevor and Dax have been allies, friends, and effectively family since before most of the people drafting this agreement entered government. Fitzgeralt military cooperation with Saha did not suddenly appear because Nero became obsessed with my son."

Nero’s eyebrow moved.

Lucas looked at him.

Nero wisely decided he had nothing to contribute.

Sebastian nearly smiled.

"Information has been exchanged," Lucas continued. "Security has been coordinated. Our families have stayed in each other’s homes. Our children were raised together. Sahan royals have known Fitzgeralt heirs since childhood, and Fitzgeralt has trusted Saha in circumstances where we would not have trusted half of Palatine’s nobility."

No one interrupted him.

"The difference now is not closeness."

Lucas tapped one finger against the document.

"It is that the closeness becomes official."

That landed more heavily than anything said during the previous hours.

Sebastian straightened slightly.

Lucas looked toward Sirius.

"Sebastian marrying Nero creates a legal relationship where there was previously a personal one. That needs boundaries because personal loyalty can be ignored by constitutional law, while marriage cannot."

Sirius nodded slowly.

"Exactly."

"It does not mean Saha suddenly acquired influence over Fitzgeralt. Dax already has influence because Trevor trusts him."

Dax glanced at Trevor.

Trevor gave the smallest nod.

"And Trevor has influence in Saha for exactly the same reason," Lucas continued. "This is hardly a new political phenomenon. Before Christopher and I entered their lives, half the continent was convinced those two were lovers."

Everything stopped.

Trevor slowly lowered his glass.

Dax turned toward Lucas with an expression of profound offense.

"Was that necessary?"

Lucas looked at him.

"Yes."

Chris’s mouth immediately curved.

Sebastian stared between his fathers and Dax, while beside him Nero became very still in the unmistakable way of a man who had just received information he intended to keep forever.

Zion abandoned all pretense of reading the contract.

Lucas continued with remarkable calm.

"The rumors went on for years. They traveled together, disappeared into private meetings for hours, shared security, appeared at each other’s estates without warning, and reacted to threats against one another with a level of violence generally reserved for mates."

Trevor’s eyes narrowed.

"You are making it sound worse."

"I am describing what everyone else saw."

Dax folded his arms.

"We were friends."

Lucas raised one blond eyebrow.

Chris finally laughed.

Dax looked at him.

"You are supposed to support me."

"I would," Chris said, "if Lucas were wrong."

Trevor turned toward his mate.

"Lucas."

"What?"

"You know perfectly well the rumors were exaggerated."

Lucas stared at him for a second.

Then his expression became almost sweet.

"You slept together."